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"Yaz 95" 51. Sayı

  • The Supreme Sign

    by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi

    Sixth Point: The Qur’an’s truthfulness and veracity show that its six aspects areluminous. Indeed, the pillars of argument and proof beneath it; the flashes ofthe stamp of miraculousness above it; the gifts of happiness in this world andthe next before it, its goal; the truths of heavenly revelation, the point ofsupport behind it; the assent and evidence of innumerable upright minds to itsright; and the true tranquillity, sincere attraction, and submission of soundhearts and clean consciences on its left all prove that the Qur’an is awondrous, firm, unassailable citadel of both the heavens and the earth.

    So too from thesesix levels, the Disposer of the universe has set His seal on its being sheertruth and right, and not being man’s word, and its containing no error — theDisposer, Who has made it His practice to always exhibit beauty in theuniverse, protect good and right, and eliminate imposters and liars, hasconfirmed and set His seal on the Qur’an by giving it the most acceptable,highest, and most dominant place of respect and degree of success in the world.

    And so too the onewho is the source of Islam and interpreter of the Qur’an — his believing in itand holding it in greater respect than everyone else, and being in a sleep-likestate when it was revealed,24 and other words and speeches not resembling orcoming near it, and that Interpreter’s describing without hesistation and withcomplete confidence through the Qur’an true cosmic events of generally the pastand the future from behind the veil of the Unseen, and no trickery or faultbeing observed in him while being under the gazes of the sharpest eyes, and hisbelieving and affirming every pronouncement of the Qur’an with all his strengthand nothing shaking him, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is revealed andtrue and the blessed Word of his own Compassionate Creator.

    Also a fifth ofmankind, indeed the greater part of it, being drawn to the Qur’an and bound toit in religion and giving ear to it eagerly desirous of the truth, andaccording to the testimony of many indications and events and illuminations,the jinn, angels, and spirit beings also gathering around it intruth-worshipping fashion like moths whenever it is recited25 is a stampconfirming the Qur’an’s acceptance by all beings and that it occupies a mosthigh position.

    Also, all theclasses of mankind from the most stupid and lowly to the cleverest and mostlearned taking their full share of the Qur’an’s instruction and theirunderstanding its most profound truths, and all branches of scholars like thegreat interpreters of the Greater Shari‘a in particular, and hundreds ofIslamic sciences and branches of knowledge, and the brilliant and exactingscholars of theology and the principles of religion extracting from the Qur’anall the needs and answers for their own sciences is a stamp confirming that theQur’an is a source of truth and mine of reality.

    Also, although theArab literary figures, who were the most advanced in regard to literature,—those of them who were not Muslims— had the greatest need to dispute theQur’an, their avoiding producing the like of only a single sura and itseloquence, eloquence being only one aspect of the seven major aspects of theQur’an’s miraculousness, as well as the famous orators and brilliant scholarsup to the present who have wanted to gain fame through disputing it beingunable to oppose a single aspect of its miraculousness and their remainingsilent in impotence, is a stamp confirming that the Qur’an is a miracle andbeyond the powers of man.

    Yes, the value,superiority, and eloquence of a speech or word is apparent through knowing,“from whom it has come and to whom, and for what purpose;” the Qur’an then canhave no like, and none can reach it. For the Qur’an is a speech and address ofthe Sustainer of all the worlds and Creator of the whole universe and adialogue in no way hinting of imitation and artificiality. It is addressed tothe one sent in the name of all men, indeed of all beings, the most famous andrenowned of mankind, the strength and breadth of whose belief gave rise tomighty Islam and raised its owner to the level of the “Distance of Two Bow-strings”and returned him as the addressee of the Eternally Besought One. It describesand explains the matters concerning happiness in this world and the next, theresults of the creation of the universe, and the dominical purposes within it.It expounds also the belief of the one it addresses, which was the highest andmost extensive of belief and bore all the truths of Islam. It turns and showsevery side of the huge universe like a map, a clock, or a house, and teachesand describes it in the manner of the Craftsman Who made them — to produce thelike of this Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is not possible; the degree of itsmiraculousness cannot be attained to.

    Also, thousands ofprecise and learned scholars of high intelligence have each written commentariesexpounding the Qur’an, some of which are of thirty, forty, or even seventyvolumes, showing and proving through evidence and argument the innumerablequalities, fine points, characteristics, mysteries, elevated meanings, andnumerous indications concerning every sort of hidden and unseen matter in theQur’an. And the one hundred and thirty parts of the Risale-i Nur in particular,each of which proves with decisive arguments one quality, one fine point of theQur’an. Each part of it — like The Miraculousness of the Qur’an, and the SecondStation of the Twentieth Word, which deduces many things from the Qur’anconcerning the wonders of civilization like the railway and the aeroplane, andthe First Ray, called Signs of the Qur’an, which makes known the indications ofverses alluding to the Risale-i Nur and electricity, and the eight shorttreatises called The Eight Symbols, which show how well-ordered, full ofmeaning, and mysterious are the words of the Qur’an, and the small treatiseproving in five aspects the miraculousness of the verses at the end of Suraal-Fath in regard to their giving news of the Unseen — each part of theRisale-i Nur shows one truth, one light of the Qur’an. All this forms a stampconfirming that the Qur’an has no like, is a miracle and a marvel, and that itis the tongue of the World of the Unseen in the Manifest World and the Word ofOne All-Knowing of the Unseen.

    Thus, due to thesequalities and characteristics of the Qur’an indicated above in six points, sixaspects, and six levels, its sublime, luminous sovereignty and sacred, mightyrule has continued with perfect splendour illuminating the faces of thecenturies and the face of the earth for one thousand three hundred years. Andalso on account of these qualities of the Qur’an, each of its letters hasgained the sacred distinction of yielding at least ten rewards, ten merits, andten eternal fruits, and the letters of certain verses and suras yielding ahundred or a thousand fruits, or even more, and at blessed times the light,reward, and value of each letter rising from ten to hundreds. The travellerthrough the world understood this and said to his heart:

    “The Qur’an, whichis thus miraculous in every respect, through the concensus of its suras, theagreement of its verses, the accord of its lights and mysteries, and theconcurrence of its fruits and works, so testifies with its evidences in theform of proofs to the existence, unity, attributes, and Names of a SingleNecessarily Existent One that it is from its testimony that the endlesstestimony of all the believers has issued forth.”

    Thus, in briefallusion to the instruction in belief and Divine unity that the travellerreceived from the Qur’an, it was said in the Seventeeth Degree of the FirstStation:

    There is no god butGod, the One and Unique Necessary Existent, to Whose Necessary Existence inUnity points the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, the book accepted and desiredby all species of angel, men and jinn, whose verses are read each minute of theyear, with the utmost reverence, by hundreds of millions of men, whose sacredsovereignty over the regions of the earth and the universe and the face of timeis permanent, whose spiritual and luminous authority has run over half theearth and a fifth of humanity, for more than fourteen centuries, with theutmost splendour. Testimony and proof is also given by the unanimity of itssacred and heavenly suras, the agreement of its luminous, divine verses, thecongruence of its mysteries and lights, the correspondence of its fruits andeffects, by witnessing and clear vision.

    ***

    Our traveller, ourvoyager through life, knew now that faith is the most precious capital man canhave, for it bestows on indigent man not some transient and ephemeral field ordwelling, but a palace, indeed an eternal kingdom as vast as the whole cosmosor the world itself. Faith also bestows on ephemeral man all he will need forlife eternal; delivers from eternal annihilation wretched man who waits on thegallows for the arrival of fate; and opens to man an eternal treasury ofeverlasting felicity. The traveller then said to himself:

    “Onward! In orderto gain a further degree from among the infinite degrees of faith, let us referto the totality of the cosmos, and listen to what it says. We will then be ableto perfect and illumine the lessons we have received from its components andparts.”

    Looking through thebroad and comprehensive telescope he had taken from the Qur’an, he saw thecosmos to be so meaningful and well-ordered that it took on the shape of anembodied book of the Glorious One, an incarnate dominical Qur’an, a finelyadorned palace of the Eternally Besought One, an orderly city of the MostMerciful. All the suras, verses, and words of that book of the universe, evenits very letters, chapters, divisions, pages, and lines, through their constantmeaningful effacement and reaffirmation, their wise changes and alternations,gave unanimous expression to the existence and presence of One Who hasKnowledge of all things and Power over all things as the author of the book, ofa Glorious Inscriber and a Perfect Scribe seeing all things in all things andknowing the relationship of all things with all things.

    So too all thespecies and particles of the cosmos, all its inhabitants and contents, all thatenters it and leaves it, all the providential changes and the wise processsesof rejuvenation that occur in it — these proclaim in unison the existence andunity of an exalted craftsman, a peerless Maker Who sets to work with limitlesspower and infinite wisdom. The testimony of two great and vast truths, of apiece with the immensity of the cosmos, affirms this supreme witness of thecosmos.

    FIRST TRUTH: Theseare the truths of ‘createdness’ and ‘contingency’ established with countlessproofs by the gifted scholars of the principles of religion and the science oftheology, as well as the sages of Islam. They said that since change andmutation are to be observed in the world and all things, the world must beephemeral and created; it cannot be uncreated. If it is created, then theremust be a Maker who created it. And if there is no cause to be found in theessence of a thing either for its being or for its non-being, so that these twoare equally possible, that thing cannot be necessary and eternal.

    It has further beenproven with decisive arguments that it is not possible for things to createeach other, since that would involve the absurd and false notion of causalityand never-ending causal sequences. Hence the existence of a Necessary Existencebecomes necessary, whose like cannot exist, whose similitude is impossible, allother than whom is contingent and created by him.

    Yes, the truth ofcreatedness has permeated the whole of the cosmos, and many instances of it arevisible to the eye; the rest can be seen only by the intellect. For in front ofour eyes a whole world dies every autumn, and together with it die hundreds ofthousands of different kinds of plants and small animals, each member of eachspecies being like a small cosmos unto himself. It is, however, so orderly anddisciplined a death that all things leave behind in their places seeds and eggsthat in the spring shall be the means of resurrection and rebirth, miracles ofmercy and wisdom, miracles of power and knowledge. They hand to the seeds andeggs their book of deeds and plan of action, entrusting them to the wisdom ofthe Glorious Preserver and under His protection, and only then do they die.

    In spring, the deadtrees, roots and animals come to life again exactly as they were, thusproviding hundreds of thousands of examples, specimens and proofs of thesupreme resurrection. In the place of others, plants and animals resemblingthem exactly are brought into being and life, thus publishing the pages of thebeings of the preceding spring, together with their deeds and functions, justlike an advertisement. Thus they demonstrate one meaning of the verse,

    When the pages are spread out.

    Then also, withrespect to the whole, each autumn a great world dies, and each spring a fresh worldcomes into being. That death and creation proceed in so orderly a manner, andso many separate deaths and creations occur within them, in such orderly andregular fashion, that it is as if the world were a traveller’s lodge whereanimate beings reside for a time, where travelling worlds and migrant realmscome, fulfil their duties, and then go on their way. So there is apparent toall intellects, with the clarity of the sun, the necessary existence, infinitepower and unending wisdom of a Glorious Being Who creates and brings into beingin this world vital realms and purposive universes, with perfect wisdom,knowledge, and equilibrium, with balance, order and regularity, and Who thenemploys them for dominical purposes, Divine aims and Merciful goals, with fullpower and compassion. We leave to the Risale-i Nur and the books of thetheologians the further discussion of matters related to createdness.

    As for contingence,it prevails over and surrounds all of the cosmos. For we see that all things,universal or particular, big or small, from God’s Throne down to the ground,from the atom to the planet, all are sent to the world with a particularessence, a specific form, a distinct identity, particular attributes, wisequalities, and beneficial organs. Now to bestow on that particular essence andquiddity its peculiarities, from amongst the infinite possibilities available;to clothe it in its specific, distinctive and appropriate form, from among thepossibilities and probabilities that are as numerous as the forms that may beconceived; to distinguish that being with the identity suited to it, from amongthe possibilities as numerous as the other members of its species; to endowwith special, suitable and beneficial attributes the created object that is formlessand hesitant midst the possibilities and probabilities that are as numerous asthe varieties of attribute and degree; to affix to that aimless creature,perplexed and distraught amidst the innumerable possibilities and probabilitiesthat result from the infinitude of conceivable paths and modalities —to affixto it wise qualities and beneficial organs and equip it with them— all of theseare indications, proofs, and affirmations to the number of the innumerablepossibilities of the necessary existence, infinite power and unlimited wisdomof the Necessary Existent Who creates, chooses, specifies, and distinguishesthe quiddity and identity, the form and shape, the attribute and situation ofall contingent beings, whether they be universals or particulars.

    They indicate, too,that no object and no matter is hidden from Him, that nothing is difficult forHim, that the greatest task is as easy for Him as the smallest, that He cancreate a spring as easily as a tree, and a tree as easily as a seed. All this,then, pertains to the truth of contingence, and forms one wing of the greattestimony borne by the cosmos.

    Since the testimonyof the cosmos, with its two wings and two truths, is fully established andexplained in various parts of the Risale-i Nur, and particularly theTwenty-Second and Thirty-Second Words, as well as the Twentieth andThirty-Third Letters, we refer our readers to those writings, and cut short anextremely long story.

    SECOND TRUTH: Asfor the Second Truth that proceeds from the total scheme of the cosmos, whichis also the second wing of its great and universal testimony, it is as follows:

    There is to be seena truth of co-operation among these beings that are attempting to maintaintheir existence, and if they are animate, their life, and fulfil theirfunctions in the midst of constantly stirring changes and revolutions, a truththat lies far beyond their capacities.

    For example, theelements hasten to aid animate beings; the clouds to help the vegetablekingdom; the vegetable kingdom, to help the animal kingdom; the animal kingdom,to help the human kingdom. Milk gushes forth from the breast, like the springof Paradise, to succour the infant; the fact that animate beings are giventheir needs and sustenance in a manner that transcends their capacity, fromunexpected places; the replenishing of the cells of the body with particles offood, through their being subjugated by their Sustainer and their employment atHis merciful hands — all of these and numerous other examples of the truth ofco-operation demonstrate the universal and compassionate dominicality of theSustainer of All the Worlds, Who administers the cosmos like a palace.

    Solid, inanimateand unfeeling objects, that nonetheless co-operate with each other in asensitive and conscious fashion, must of necessity be caused to rush to eachother’s aid by the power, mercy, and command of a Compassionate, Wise, andGlorious Sustainer.

    The universalco-operation visible throughout the cosmos; the comprehensive equilibrium andall-embracing preservation prevailing with the utmost regularity in all things,from the planets to the members, limbs and bodily particles of animate beings;the adorning whose pen ranges over the gilded face of the heavens, thedecorated face of the earth, and the delicate faces of flowers; the orderingthat prevails over all things, from the Milky Way and solar system down tofruits such as corn and pomegranates; the assigning of duties to all things,from the sun and the moon, the elements and the clouds, down to honey-bees —all of these great truths offer a testimony of proportionate greatness, andtheir testimony forms the second wing of the testimony offered by the cosmos.

    Since the Risale-iNur has established and clarified this great testimony, we will contentourselves here with this brief indication.

    In brief allusionto the lesson of faith learned by our traveller from the cosmos, we said in theEighteenth Degree of the First Station:

    There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the like of Whom cannot exist, other than Whom all things are contingent, the One, the Unique, to the Necessity of Whose Existence in Unity points the cosmos, the great book incarnate, the supreme Qur’an personified, the ornate and orderly palace, the splendid and well-arranged city, with all of its suras, verses, letters, chapters, parts, pages, and lines, with the agreement of its fundaments, species, parts and particles, its inhabitants and contents, what enters it and what leaves it; with the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of createdness, change and contingency; with the consensus of all scholars of the science of theology; with the testimony of the truth of the changing of its form and its contents, with wisdom and regularity, and the renewal of its letters and words with discipline and equilibrium; and with the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of co-operation, mutual response and solidarity, reciprocal care, balance and preservation, among all its beings, by witnessing and clear vision.

    ***

    Then the ardent andinquisitive traveller, who was seeking the Creator of the world, had advancedby gaining knowledge of God indirectly through eighteen degrees and approached,at the end of an ascension in belief to the throne of truth, a station where inthe presence of God, he addressed Him directly. He said to his own spirit:

    “In the nobleopening sura of the Qur’an, the verses that extend from the beginning to theword iyyaka (You alone) are like a form of praise and encomium utteredindirectly; but the word iyyaka signifies a coming into His presence andaddresssing Him directly. So too we should abandon this indirect seeking andask for the object of search from the object of our search. For one must askthe sun, that shows all things, concerning the sun, since that which shows allthings will show itself even more clearly. Just as we perceive and know the sunby its rays, so too we can strive to know our Creator, in accordance with ourcapacities, through His Most Beautiful Names and Sacred Attributes.”

    We will set forthhere, with the utmost brevity and concision, two of the countless paths thatlead to this goal; two of the infinite degrees of those two paths; and two ofthe abundant truths and details of those two degrees.

    THE FIRST TRUTH:There appears visible to our eye a comprehensive, permanent, orderly andawesome truth, one that changes, transforms, and renews all beings in heavenand on earth, with imperious and incessant activity. Within the truth of thatin every way wise activity, there is immediately perceived the truth of themanifestation of dominicality, and in turn, within the truth of that in everyway merciful manifestation of dominicality, is recognizable the truth of theepiphany of Divinity.

    From thiscontinuous, wise and imperious activity, the deeds of an All-Powerful andAll-Knowing Doer can be discerned, as if from behind a veil. And from behindthe veil of these nurturing and administering deeds of dominicality, the DivineNames, manifest in all things, can be immediately perceived. Then behind theveil of the Beautiful Names, manifest with Glory and Beauty, can be deduced theexistence and reality of the seven sacred attributes, according to thetestimony of all creation, in a life-giving, powerful, knowledgeable,all-hearing, all-seeing, volitional and speech-endowed form, there appears tothe eye of faith in the heart, self-evidently, necessarily, and with fullcertainty, the existence of a Necessary Existent that is described by theseattributes, a Single One of Unity known by these Names, a Peerless and EternalDoer, in a form more evidential and brilliant than the sun.

    For a beautiful andprofound book necessarily presupposes the act of writing and a well-built housepresupposes the act of building; and the acts of writing beautifully andbuilding well presuppose the names of writer and builder; and the titles ofwriter and builder obviously imply the arts and attributes of writing and building;and these arts and attributes self-evidently necessitate one who will bequalified by the names and attributes, and be the artist and craftsman. Forjust as it is impossible for there to be a deed without a doer, or a namewithout one designated by the name, so too it is not possible for there to bean attribute without one qualified by the attribute, and for there to be acraft without a craftsman.

    On the basis, then,of this truth and principle, the universe with all the beings it containsresembles a collection of profound books and letters written by the pen ofDivine Determining, and countless buildings and palaces constructed with thehammer of Divine Power. Each of these singly in thousands of ways and togetherin uncountable ways utters the following testimony:

    These innumerabledominical and merciful deeds, and the endless manifestations of the thousandand one Divine Names which are the source of the deeds, and the infinitemanifestations of the seven transcendent attributes which are the source of theBeautiful Names, in endless and infinite ways point to and testify to thenecessary existence and unity of an All-Glorious Essence Which is the source ofthose all-embracing, sacred seven attributes and is qualified by them. And sotoo all the instances of beauty, loveliness, perfection, and exquisitenessfound in those beings self-evidently testify all together to the sacredbeauties and perfections of the dominical deeds, and the Divine Names, andattributes, and qualities, which are fitting and worthy of them, and to thesacred beauty of the Most Pure and Holy Essence.

    So the truth ofdominicality that manifests itself within the truth of activity reveals andmakes itself known in qualities and acts such as creating, originating,fashioning and bringing into being, with knowledge and wisdom; determining,forming, administering and changing with regularity and balance; transforming,causing to descend and perfecting, with purpose and will; and feeding,nurturing, and bestowing generosity and bounty, with tenderness and mercy. Andwithin the truth of the manifestation of dominicality, the truth of theimmediately perceived revelation of Divinity makes itself known and recognizedthrough the compassionate and munificent manifestations of the Beautiful Namesand through the Glorious and Beauteous manifestations of the seven affirmativeattributes: Life, Knowledge, Power, Will, Hearing, Sight, and Speech.

    Just as theattribute of Speech makes the Most Sacred Essence known through revelation andinspiration, so too the attribute of Power makes the Essence known through itsskilled works and effects, each of which is like a word assuming externalshape. Presenting the cosmos from end to end under the aspect of an incarnatebook of discernment, it describes and makes known a Powerful Possessor ofGlory.

    As for theattribute of Knowledge, it makes known a single Most Sacred Essence, througheach of the wise, well-ordered and balanced objects of creation, through eachcreature administered, directed, adorned, and made distinct by God’s Knowledge.

    As for theattribute of Life, it is proven not only by its own evidences, but also by allthe works that proclaim God’s Power, by all the well-ordered, wise, balancedand adorned forms and states that indicate God’s Knowledge, as well as by allproofs of all other attributes. Thus Life, showing as witnesses all animatebeings, which act as mirrors reflecting those abundant proofs, makes known anEternally Living and Self-Subsistent Essence.

    It is also thisattribute that constantly changes the cosmos, in order to produce in itever-fresh and various manifestations and designs, and turns it into a suprememirror composed of countless smaller mirrors. Similarly, the attributes ofSeeing and Hearing, Willing and Speaking, each reveal and make known the MostSacred Essence, just as the cosmos does.

    Then, too, just asthe attributes point to the existence of the Possessor of Glory, they alsoindicate in most manifest fashion the existence and reality of life, and the livingnessand permanence of that Essence. For Knowing is a sign of Life; Hearing is anindication of Life; Seeing belongs only to the living; Will takes place onlywith Life. Purposive Power is found only in living beings, and Speech is a taskfor those endowed with Knowledge and Life.

    It follows from theforegoing that the attribute of Life has proofs seven times as numerous as thecosmos, and evidences that proclaim its existence and the existence of the OneWhom it qualifies. Thus it comes to be the foundation and source of theattributes, the origin and support of the Supreme Name. Since the Risale-i Nurestablishes this first truth with powerful proofs and clarifies it, we willcontent ourselves now with a drop from this ocean.